1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a three-dimensional (3D) face capturing apparatus, method and computer-readable medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today's users are not satisfied with two-dimensional (2D) information. Users demand new experiences associated with a human interface, a natural game control, a 3D display, and the like. Accordingly, superior 3D contents and 3D facial information may be demanded.
A laser scanner may be a general and convenient apparatus for capturing a 3D target object. A 3D surface may be accurately obtained using the laser. Some researchers have also attempted to capture the 3D face using a single camera or a plurality of cameras.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,196, titled ‘Method and Apparatus for the Processing of Images’, discusses a 3D face being formed from a 2D image. The patent discusses modeling of a 3D face using a 2D image based on a morphable object model. A shape of a model is learned based on various accurate 3D face models obtained using the laser scanner. A 3D face may be expressed based on a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) coefficient and the PCA coefficient may be calculated by minimizing a difference between a 3D face projection and an input image. However, U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,196 uses only 2D images and thus, a reconstruction of the 3D face is unreliable. Also, the U.S. patent may use a manually marked feature point and may expend much time for calculation.
U.S. Patent Application US20090052748, titled ‘Method and System for Constructing a 3D Representation of a Face from a 2D Representation’ discusses that a 3D face is reconstructed using a single neutral frontal face image. Partially inputted facial features may be detected from a 2D input image. As a result, a difference between input features and composed 3D face features may be minimized.
However, U.S. Patent Application US20090052748 may have a limit in inputs. The 3D face is reconstructed from the single face image and thus, the reconstructed 3D face may be unreliable.
Although a 3D face reconstructed based on a laser scanner is very accurate, there are a variety of problems. First, the interface is not sufficiently good for the 3D face reconstruction. Second, scanning is mechanically processed and as a result much time may be expended. Third, the person being scanned may be immobile while their head is scanned. Also, some users believe that the laser is harmful to human eyes. In addition, the laser scanner is too expensive to be widely used.
A method of modeling a 3D face based on an image is unreliable compared with the modeling using the laser scanner. The method of modeling a 3D face based on an image may incur a high cost and a long calculation time. Also, the method of modeling a 3D face based on an image may not realize a reliable and accurate 3D face model. To obtain an ideal result, the method of modeling a 3D face based on an image may have a feature point manually marked. The method may use a facial 3D image and a 2D pattern PCA model. The model may be trained using a 3D face database of the laser scanner and thus, the method is complex.